Two interviews; Two askance-lookers
John Zuarino interviews Matthew Sharpe for Bookslut and takes issue on the Blog of a Bookslut with the NYTBR; and
Scott Esposito interviews Matthew Sharpe for Small Spiral Notebook and really takes issue, on his own blog, with the NYTBR...
Ed picked up on Scott's critique and also refers us to Richard's at The Existence Machine.
I also got words of support from others about the miserly and dim review, which means a lot, though begs the question—should I worry about these? Sadly, yes. In fact, I was already worried when I heard who the reviewer would be, since she'd already panned Oh Pure and Radiant Heart and clearly didn't like, a priori, political/satirical ahistorical fantasias. And the reason to be worried is that there is a thing in bookselling called sales velocity and, while the NYTBR can't create velocity except in unusual circumstances, it can accelerate it, or put the brakes on it, especially with hardcover $25 literary fiction. And velocity, because it affects the visibility of the books in the stores, where they're shelved, when they returned, is crucial—the difference between selling 3000 copies and 8000 copies, let's say...
Thus, one must worry. As a rule, I worry too much, but this time, for the moment at least, I was right to worry...